My Friend Amica.

This has to be the hardest thing ever over had to write so please forgive me if its not up to my usual standards. Let’s start at the very beginning shall we (usually the best way) some years ago I lost my furry friend (cat) of 19 years, and while I was devastated by the loss of a constant companion. I after a time felt that it was time to move forward with my life and I decided I wanted to share my house with another companion of the feline variety and make it a home once again.

I went to a local rescue shelter for a number of reasons. One my last cat had been a rescue cat that my mother had chosen. Two I want to give a shelter cat a loving forever home. Three I refuse to pay people who breed cats for their own financial gain. I knew what I wanted from the shelter but was pretty certain that they wouldn’t have what I wanted. As my last cat was a pure black, British short haired I was looking for another black cat so share my house with me. Surprisingly as they told me they struggle to house black cats, either cat owners are superstitious or racist I’m not sure which.

While looking at many beautiful felines and really wanting to give them all a home one particular cat caught my eye. She was a black short haired cat with one very strange feature. Her right eye was not like a normal cats eye it was almost a like a marbled effect. This particular cat was very happy to see me and came to say hello every time I visited. I decided that this cat called Cayene was the one for me as she had chosen me. The staff had told me that this little lady had been overlooked a lot because of her “freaky eye” and was soon to be moved to the lifers unit. This is not as daunting as it seems it was basically a licence to free roam the grounds and a large shed full toys and cat beds.

We brought our new little one to her new home and she seemed very happy if somewhat quiet. I changed her name to Amica (shortened to Ami) as it is Latin for old or dear friend and since she looked like my previous feline house mate it seemed to fit. She took a while to fit in and was extremely shy with strangers to begin with and we came to an unwritten agreement. She wasn’t keen on being picked up, so I didn’t pick her up this worked well and we got on brilliantly.

Ami then ended having another feline house mate a little runt of the litter black cat who we called Lawrencium as I couldn’t call him Lawrence after my old cat but wanted to. So I used my love of science to give little man a cool name that was an original name but also an homage to my old cat. The pair got on quiet well Ami was kept slightly younger by being chased round by Lawrencium and she kept the little tear away in check at times. This continued for some years until I met a wonderful woman who (Spoiler Alert!!!) was to become the now Mrs Bob and we started talking about houses.

Mrs Bob was kind enough to let Ami, Lawrencium & myself move into and share her beautiful house. This was just perfect for them and myself we were a small and very happy family we all got along and argued at times like any family does. All three of us loved the fantastically easy going Devon lifestyle until tragedy struck when Lawrencium was taken to the vets for a routine blood work up as he was seemingly out of sorts. We then received a phone call to say that Lawrencium had become stressed and suffered a fatal heart attack while the vets were taking bloods. The vets did everything they could to revive him but to no avail.

We were of course devastated by this news but we later found out that as he was the runt he also had a heart issue and would have burnt very brightly for a short time anyway. This now meant there was just the three of us and Ami was by now getting on in years and enjoyed our company (when it suited her) some time later (2 years) Ami then was taken ill with an apparent eye infection in her good (normal) eye and had an operation to try to save her eye. This was unfortunately not to be and her eye had to be removed. Throughout all this Ami never complained or got stressed about loosing her eye and in fact adjusted and coped very well with the change.

Then last year Ami began to have problems with her eye and had to have major specialist surgery to have the lense removed. We were warned that the surgery could have a number of complications. Loosing her remaining eye or never recovering. Like the little fighter she was she came through with her eye intact. Albeit minus a lense and yet again she was very stoic throughout the whole ordeal and soon was pottering around the house and occasionally bumping into things but generally in good spirits. She had to have three sets of drops twice a day but so long as she got her chicken and rice (nom nom nom) she was a very happy and purry cat.

Ami has been our one eyed fur-ball and house companion for a long time and has given Mrs Bob & myself a great amount of happiness and laughter. She has even managed to comfort Mrs Bob just by being there for her. We even play cat tennis with her as she has a habit of sleeping on either one of us, we then move her and she gets on the respective other person. Unfortunately of late her health has started to get a little worse her eyesight is going and she spends lots of time yowling for no reason. She Is drinking lots and sleeps nearly all the time.Sadly last night Ami became more distressed than usual and we at 2300 called the vets for some advice and were asked to bring her in at 0900 as they suspected a kidney problem and wanted to run some blood tests.

It was after much discussion with Mrs Bob through the night that we came to the very difficult decision to not put her through the the stress of a blood test. Meaning having to say goodbye to my feline best friend. We made her comfortable during the night and I spent a lot of time chatting with the old girl. Over our adventures together and the mischief we have caused during our time. She has and always will be my friend and I wanted to make her happy. This morning we had a family cuddle and got some video and pictures and got everything ready for her final journey. As it was on her arrival into my life (and the county) I drove her and then carried her to the vets for her journey to Rainbow Bridge.

So this morning I took my oldest and dearest friend on their final journey and said thank you for all the memories they have allowed me to share with them and goodbye. I held her paw and stroked her gently as she slipped away to join her younger brother Lawrencium.

We returned home and started the task of informing people cancelling appointments etc. During this time I was on my way downstairs when I happened to see my dear friend at the bottom of the stairs. Then later on while we were sat upstairs we heard a meow from downstairs as if to say “Mummy & Daddy I’m home”.